The God Who PursuesSample

Chasing Without Running - Part 1

What I love about God is that He chases us in so many ways. When we think about 'pursuit', we most often imagine a picture of someone running and someone else running right behind them. 

However, God's pursuit takes many forms. Let's take a quick look at Jonah, for example.

God speaks to Jonah and tells him, "I need you to go to the city of Nineveh and tell them these words, 'You've been sinning A WHOLE LOT, I see you and I'm about to wipe you out'"

Jonah hears the message and says to God, "God, I've been watching the news, and these people are the worst. They deserve to be wiped out, but you're calling me to go speak to them, so I know you're just going to spare them. They don't deserve it. I'm just going to go over here to Tarshish."

Many have framed this story as Jonah being afraid of the Ninevites, and so he didn't want to go to the city. But the truth is, Jonah was more concerned with holding up his prophecy rep, and He didn't want God to save them. So, he figured he would go somewhere else, somewhere far, where it would be less convenient for God to ask him to deliver this keynote address.

Jonah heads down to the port at Joppa and buys a one-way ticket on a boat with some blue-collar workers. He gives his ticket to the boat captain and settles in for the ride.

Now, God begins His odd pursuit. He sends a great wind out to the sea where Jonah and the crew were sailing. The Bible doesn't say this, but I imagine this storm being one localized to where the ship was...sort of like a sun shower which storms only over one block of a city. This local storm was unusually violent, and it felt like the ship was going to break apart. 

The ship sailors may have looked out and wondered why this violent storm was only attacking their ship. So they each began to "pray" to their gods.

Have you ever wondered why it seems like everyone else is prospering, and the storm is only in your life? You take a peek at 'the crazy' that people are posting on IG (Instagram) and wonder why it seems like they are getting blessed while you are encountering storms that threaten to break apart everything you have worked for.

Stop for a moment and ask God, "are you pursuing me?"